An ongoing child support case in Arkansas is back in the national spotlight, and it promises to expose Hunter Biden’s much sought-after financial records.
The scandal-ridden son of President Joe Biden appeared in court on Monday. He is attempting to lower his $20,000-per-month child support payments to Lunden Roberts, the mother of his 4-year-old illegitimate daughter, Navy Joan.
Now, an Arkansas judge is ordering Hunter to answer questions about his finances, including art sales and investments. Last month, Judge Holly Meyer promised to shield his records from public scrutiny, in a win for the first son and his Manhattan art dealers who have fought to keep buyers’ names private. Some of them paid up to half a million dollars for his paintings, leading many to speculate that Hunter’s customers may have been more in the market for political influence than for art.
This week, Meyer slammed Hunter’s legal team for its lack of transparency, ordering them to refile financial papers in which details have been wrongly concealed. She told them, “The ability to redact is somewhat being abused.… This cryptic, hide-the-ball game isn’t going to cut it when we get to trial.” And she threatened to subpoena the art gallery if necessary.
She also said Hunter’s attorneys must make more of their court filings available to the public. “I have been very generous to Mr. Biden,” Meyer reminded them, but “I can’t gag the whole world.”
The judge has ordered Hunter back for a deposition in June when he will answer questions under oath about his art, investments, and other financial matters.
It’s odd timing for Hunter Biden to add to his already complicated legal situation, especially since his father just formally announced plans to run for reelection in 2024. Even CNN is pointing out the obvious:
CNN host Jake Tapper: Elie, Hunter Biden is already under investigation by the Justice Department into his taxes and … finances. Does this case complicate things for him at all?
Former assistant U.S. attorney and CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig: It does, Jake, for sure. Hunter Biden has bigger problems than this, starting with the ongoing criminal grand jury investigation of Hunter Biden for potential tax fraud. And now he has opened the door by going back into this court, to others getting access to his financial documents, including prosecutors, including Congress. So it’s a questionable decision. I’m really astonished that Hunter Biden, given that he has a pending criminal investigation, and given that there are pending congressional investigations, would go back into this court and try to reopen this Pandora’s box.
The FBI has been investigating Hunter since 2019 regarding potential tax evasion and gun-related offenses. And the U.S. House Oversight Committee continues its probe into the Biden family, including Hunter’s now-infamous laptop that contained incriminating emails and other materials. Oversight Chair James Comer recently updated Fox News on some damning evidence his committee has uncovered, and the arrogance on display during the Bidens’ recent trip to Ireland:
If you’re a relative of a high-ranking government official, you’re a politically exposed person. And then if you’re getting wires from countries that are on our watch list or countries that we have sanctions against, then you’re going to get a lot of bank violations. And what we learned is a lot of Bidens have gotten a lot of bank violations — more than what we first would have estimated.
The president knew when he went to Ireland that my staff was already granted access to Treasury — to those bank violations. They had to know that we were going to uncover that there were even more Biden family members involved in this influence-peddling scheme. They had to know that we were going to discover new bank accounts and new LLCs that we never before knew about because they had never before been reported. So the fact that they were so blatant and so arrogant and bold to go and parade Hunter Biden around on the international stage, it’s just another smack in the face to any American who cares anything about public corruption.
Regarding the Arkansas child support case, a previous paternity test confirmed Hunter as the father, but, according to media reports, he has never met the toddler. Hunter met her mother in 2017, when she was working as a stripper in Washington, D.C., but he also denies any recollection of that liaison:
I would later challenge in court the woman from Arkansas who had a baby in 2018 and claimed the child was mine. I had no recollection of our encounter.
— From Hunter Biden’s memoir Beautiful Things
Meanwhile, President Biden is enduring renewed media backlash for failing to acknowledge Navy as his granddaughter:
The girl has no contact with the Biden family. She’s never been able to meet her grandparents. She’s never gotten to go to the White House.… Her grandfather has never picked her up and held her. And then she has a father who has no connection with her and is claiming that he doesn’t have enough money to care for her?
— Fox News’ Dana Perino
Even now, the White House refuses to answer questions regarding the child:
Reporter: Thanks, Karine. I wanted to ask about the trial going on in Arkansas with Hunter Biden and the child support. Are the president and first lady monitoring that, and how come they haven’t acknowledged their seventh grandchild?
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: I’m not going to speak to that from here.
